University of Wisconsin scholar Gerda Lerner founded the academic field of women's history.

Community leader Helen Connor Laird was the inspiration for the Laird Endowment Fund for the Arts in central Wisconsin.

Best known for her work on gender, race, and class, University of Wisconsin graduate bell hooks was a prolific writer, speaker, and scholar.

Anita Herrera grew up in a family of migrant farm workers and devoted her career to improving education, employment, and living conditions for People of Color in Wisconsin.

Sarah Harder started the women's studies program at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and built many women's coalitions in Wisconsin and nationally.

Margaret H’Doubler, “founder of American college dance,” created a dance major — the first in the U.S. — at the University of Wisconsin in 1926.

Historian Camille Guérin-Gonzales, who directed the UW–Madison’s Chican@ and Latin@ Studies Program, was devoted to justice for working people.

Community activist and educator Debora Gil R. Casado cofounded the first Spanish-language immersion school in Madison, Wisconsin.

Margaret Farrow was the first woman to serve as lieutenant governor in Wisconsin.

Dorothy "Aunt Dot" Davids was a respected Native American educator in Wisconsin and an author, speaker, community organizer, and activist for peace and justice.